I just thought I would interject.

I have known plenty of people who have been married without the religious side of it. They do not get married via a priest, in a church etc.

It is a ceremony based on the two individuals uniting with one another. Whether they are straight or gay. It is a ritual of their love and admiration of one another. It is essentially inspired by a religious ceremony, however, it has been altered to suit their needs.
The engagement ring is a fairly new concept that was created in order to profit from diamonds. So if anything it is more of a capitalistic ritual than anything, but that is going to completely off topic territory so I will not tread there.

Just my two cents.

lol ok carry on then i am wrong 

"The engagement ring is a fairly new concept that was created in order to profit from diamonds."

no the use of the ring in the union of people is a very old religious tradition from long before our era and long before even christianity 

speak of the devil 

There are very few religions to this date that predate Christianity.
Most religions practiced before Christianity are myths now. You still have Judaism and a rare select few.

You could almost class it as being a ritual based on mythology at this point as due to the insane amount of time the ceremonial ring itself was conceived, was before the Roman Empire.

Let me explain myself.  First off, I think this has a lot to do with the topic.  Why are you an atheist?  I'm not, but I sorta am.  I know, confusing.  I don't believe in the religion aspect of it, not crazy snakes or parting of seas or pregnant virgins, etc.  What I do believe, is that there is a God, by definition.  An all mighty being, capable of any thing and everything all the time since forever in the past and into the future.  By believing in this ultimate power, that is the God I speak of.  Not the good being, not bad being, simply the being that is capable of all. That's the God I believe in.  An almighty being capable of it all, yet does not regard the tiny ants that exist within God's realm(us and everything else that exist).

This is my thought process of the matter.  I exist because of my mother.  My mother exist because of the past.  The past exist because of the present and the future, therefore the past exists forever as the future.  If the Past has always existed, that means that the future will always exist as well.  So, if the past and future are eternal, this is God's work.  A long line forever in both directions forever.  Let's take a look at that word: forever.  Like a magic word in terms of existing, like pixie dust, but unlike pixie dust, it's real, not tangeble but as real as Time.  Forever in the past and forever in the future, and it's real.  And since those two concepts exists, how can one deny the existence of a being that created it.  Perhaps God is just a continuation of the past to the future and all in between is God's(the all powerful being) actions based this universe's course of action.  Don't even get me started on string theory and God's role in it.

~Mod Edit~

Ouroboros has been talked with.

-Smeags

"There are very few religions to this date that predate Christianity." no there were many many religions before the abrahamic religions

secondly catholicism the version from which all other forms of christianity sprang was formed through combining the original version of chrisitianity with several pagan beliefs and rituals

that is why the day of worshipped changed from saturnday to sunday for example

this was done so that the emperor of rome ( who became the pope ) could exert control over both pagans and chrisitans by placing himself at the head of the religion that combined the two belief systems : catholicism

as i mentioned before that is why a giant penis resides in the courtyard at the vatican ( as it does with the washington monument ) along with the circular temple of the sun which surrounds it with all kinds of other stuff that no one wants to look at because it sounds crazy because they have been taught to view what is crazy and what isn't

i went to a meeting at a mystery school recently and the doors were shaped like this   on my way home i saw this same exact symbolism on a church because again in many ways they are the same thing the vatican is itself a mystery school

but anyway my overall point in posting here is that people need to show more humility and be open minded because when it comes down to it the vast majority of us do not understand what is going on and that because of that in many ways we are being manipulated without acknowledging it the examples of this that should be most evident are the recent wars

Hinduism? 1.1B

Buddhism? 488M

Shintoism? 100M

All 3 much bigger than Judaism

I understand that they are bigger than Judaism. I even stated that there are a few others that remain, however, most religions from that era have become myths. What we know to be Greek Mythology was religion way back when.  

Shintoism is a surprise to me though, I would have thought that Judaism has more of a following. I will take your word for it as I am currently busy and will not look up the statistics as of yet.

My point was that the exchange of rings can be done in a matter that is not deemed religious. I think that is what bothers those who are religious. They feel like they have had some sort of ritual stolen from them - it has merely been adapted to remove the religious connotations that it once had. Something can become a tradition without being associated with religion. That may have been initial origins, however, if you attend the wedding ceremonies of those who are not religious, the difference is light and day.
Just because two people want to unite with one another, does not imply any religious connotation. 

This thread has gotten off topic because of some posts trying to derail the original intention of this thread. Sorry it took so long.

But with said, here's an in thread warning: I don't care how right anyone thinks they are when it comes to this subject. You will be respectful of others who do not share your views. So please, be mindful that shots at others and generalizations do nothing for your stance except to demean others and delegitimize your own arguments. Things like "I grew up" "I have common sense" "_____ is like the Tooth Fairy/Santa Claus" are arguments that serve to demean and degrade others and their beliefs.

Remember, this is a video game sales website. First off and foremost, we're about treating others with respect, no matter how wrong you may think they are. The rest of the discussion topics, like this one, are just icing on the cake. I like my icing sweet, so think sweet! Icky tasting icing goes right in the trash can. :)